Meaning Behind Sharaputdin Magomedov’s Nicknames ‘Bullet’ & ‘Pirate’

Sharaputdin Magomedov has greatly impressed the fighting community with his Muay Thai skills inside the Octagon. Despite hailing from the mountainous region of Dagestan, which is known for breeding wrestling-heavy fighters, the 30-year-old likes to rely on his striking more than wrestling. Its effectiveness is reflected in his professional MMA record. Currently going on a 15-fight win streak, the middleweight fighter is yet to face defeat.

While the Russian does possess some outstanding fighting skills, he is more famous because of his nickname. The 30-year-old has a menacing personality and is a threat to his rivals inside the Octagon. Before his next big clash, let’s take a look at his different nicknames.

Why do they call Sharaputdin Magomedov ‘Bullet’?

Hypocorisms or name-shortening isn’t an uncommon thing, and if we look at Sharaputdin Magomedov, his name is already shortened to ‘Shara’, and his friend back home used to call him by that name. On his fighter profile on the UFC’s website, the 30-year-old revealed that people close to him called him ‘Shara Pulya’. While creating an Instagram account, Magomedov decided to translate the ‘Pulya’ word from his name in English, which turned out to be ‘Bullet’. Since then, he’s kept his moniker.

“I had different nicknames before. Shara is a short version of my name. Friends and relatives called me Shara Pulya (bullet in Russian) for a long time,” Sharaputdin Magomedov stated. “When I was creating an Instagram account, I already knew some English and learned that ‘Pulya’ is Bullet in English, so I wrote it, and people started calling me that since”, he further added.

Sharaputdin Magomedov has more than one nickname, it seems, and the moniker that’s been picked up by the fans of the UFC is his ‘Pirate’ moniker. As we tried to take a look at the backstory behind it, Magomedov revealed how he adopted that moniker.

Why is Sharaputdin Magomedov called ‘Pirate’?

30-year-old Magomedov is one of those rare fighters who is combating his battle outside the Octagon. The Russian fighter had his right eye injured while training back in the day resulting in him losing eyesight in it. However, he is unfazed by the disadvantage and confident of making a name for himself in the biggest fighting promotion in the world. He also has a funny side to him and this is how he gave himself the nickname of ‘Pirate’. 

Before his UFC debut, Sharaputdin Magomedov termed himself as a ‘Pirate’ based on him having one eye. During his promo shoot the 30-year-old featured in a video and said, “The pirate is here. See you in the octagon. I came for my gold, brother, October 21, Insha’Allah.” Magomedov’s moniker is ‘Shara Bullet’ and most of the fans feel it suits his style. However, losing one eye wasn’t a very pleasant experience at all as the undefeated revealed the incident that led to his blindness.

Magomedov’s horrific story of losing his eye

When Sharaputdin Magomedov injured his eye, he had to undergo surgery an overwhelming eight times, which led to his fighting career taking a backseat. In an interview, he revealed that he was well aware of all the things that were happening when he was being treated by the doctors. “There were such operations when an injection in the eye had to be made, where it was removed, one might say. At this time, local anesthesia is administered, but you feel everything,” Magomedov told Athletistic.

While he ended up getting permanently blind in his right eye, Sharaputdin Magomedov had to take precautions when he resumed training so that it didn’t get infected, but he didn’t put a pause on his career ever again. “I had many different stages. My eyes were tortured specifically… The worst thing that can happen to your eye has already happened. Therefore, you can practice,” the 30-year-old added.

Despite the tragic event, Sharaputdin Magomedov has had a great start to his UFC run. But the aim is to step up in competition and that’s what he’s getting at UFC Fight Night 250. Going up against the unique, striking phenom Michael ‘Venom’ Page, do you think he’ll be able to maintain his unbeaten and winning streak? That remains to be seen.

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